How can I not keep looking!

Just then, Seol Ji Oh came over to Yeo Woon with a teacup. Seol Ji Oh asked as he placed the tea in front of Yeo Woon.

“What’s with that weird expression?”
“Pardon?”
“I feel like showing you a mirror. Were you having some naughty thoughts?”
“Heuk!”
At his casual words, Yeo Woon was so startled that she choked on her breath, causing Seol Ji Oh’s expression to become strange.

“Really?”
Yeo Woon shook her head vigorously, keeping her mouth tightly closed.

Holding back a rising chuckle, Seol Ji Oh teased Yeo Woon with playful eyes.

“Since there’s only two of us here, if you were having naughty thoughts, was I perhaps the target?”
Yeo Woon shook her head even more violently. Seol Ji Oh then leaned towards Yeo Woon and whispered.

“What was I doing in Ms. Yeo Woon’s imagination?”

Unable to bear it any longer, Yeo Woon exclaimed, her face flushing red.

“Ah, really! I didn’t, I tell you, I didn’t!”
“Pfft.”
Yeo Woon, feeling as if her throat was burning, took a drink from the tea in front of her. Seol Ji Oh just looked at Yeo Woon, uttering, “Oh.”

It hasn’t been long since I poured that, it must be hot.

“Ah, it’s hot!!”
Yeo Woon squirmed in discomfort after sipping the hot herbal tea. It was too hot even though it was meant to be hot.

Seol Ji Oh, despite knowing he shouldn’t laugh, burst into laughter at the sight of Yeo Woon and brought her some cold water.

“Ha, I’m going crazy. Drink this, quickly.”
Seol Ji Oh, who was laughing to the point of tears, handed over the cold water, which Yeo Woon gulped down.

After finishing the water, Yeo Woon mumbled with a soulless look in her eyes.

“Really, it’s all because of you.”
“You…?”
At Yeo Woon’s sudden informal speech, Seol Ji Oh chuckled. Seol Ji Oh took a seat opposite Yeo Woon, looking at her with a delighted expression.

“Is your palate okay?”
Yeo Woon shook her head. Both her tongue and palate felt burned.

Why on earth was the tea so hot?

Yeo Woon rubbed her scorched palate with her tongue.

Ugh. It hurts.

“Who asked you to have naughty thoughts?”
“Hey!!!”
At his teasing, Yeo Woon got heated in an instant.

It’s not like that, really!

Seol Ji Oh laughed, looking at Yeo Woon, whose face had turned beet red.

Perhaps finding his laughter annoying, Yeo Woon shot Seol Ji Oh a glare, and Seol Ji Oh raised his hands as if to surrender under her rather fierce gaze.

Once Yeo Woon calmed down a bit, Seol Ji Oh rubbed the corners of his mouth, which had curled upwards for a while, as he quietly observed Yeo Woon. It had been a long time since he had laughed out loud like this.

Yeo Woon, still looking disgruntled while gulping down the cold water, suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu and blinked.

Memories of times when Seol Ji Oh teased her and laughed like he was now, and she would get angry.

Feeling as though she had gone back to those times, Yeo Woon was momentarily lost in thought.

“Yeo Woon”
At the sound of her name, Yeo Woon lifted her head. Seol Ji Oh’s black pupils were staring at her. Seol Ji Oh, whose laughter had faded a layer, called Yeo Woon’s name and remained silent for a while, leaving her unsure of what he was thinking.

Wondering what he wanted to say, she watched him, and then he opened his mouth.

“I know it’s a bit sudden.”
“……”
“Shall we drop the formalities?”
Yeo Woon blinked in surprise at the unexpected suggestion.

Drop the formalities?

Though she had used informal speech out of anger a little while ago, she hadn’t thought about using informal speech with Seol Ji Oh regularly. She didn’t feel their relationship allowed for it.

Seol Ji Oh didn’t have any memories from when they were young, so she thought she was more of a helper for what he wanted, rather than a friend.

Feeling familiar with him solely based on childhood memories was difficult, especially since Seol Ji Oh, with his entirely different aura from when they were kids, seemed a bit unfamiliar.

But now he suddenly suggested dropping formalities. That was too… friendly.

Could it mean he wanted to get a bit closer?

Yeo Woon stared intently at Seol Ji Oh’s face.

Could we possibly get as close as when we… were friends back then?

We, having grown into adults, were definitely different from our past selves, yet I strangely felt a flutter in my heart. It was as if an entirely new relationship was beginning.

Yeo Woon nodded slightly and opened her mouth.

“……Okay.”
At Yeo Woon’s affirmation, Seol Ji Oh gave a small smile, then rose from his seat and said,

“Let’s go. I’ll take you.”
There was no awkwardness in his tone.

[Did the shoot go well?] Upon reading the text, Yeo Woon found herself smiling without realizing.

The sender was Seol Ji Oh. After they had both visited Seol Ji Oh’s family home a while ago, he had often sent her texts like this.

[Yes. Now going to meet a friend. What about you?] Today was the day she was to meet Seo Ga Ram. Planning to give Seo Ga Ram a lift, Yeo Woon had driven to Seo Ga Ram’s house.

As she tapped the steering wheel with her fingers, waiting for Seo Ga Ram, her cell phone vibrated.